PAM. 

SEftM. 


The  Pentecost  on  the  Congo. 


STENOGRAPHIC  REPORT 


ADDRESS 


BY 

Rev.  Henrv  Richards, 


MISSIONARY, 

OF  THE 

American  Baptist  Missionary  Union, 

AT  BANZA  MANTEKE, 


AFRICA. 


Rev.  Henry  Richards'wenEfrom  England  to  Africa  as  a Mis- 
sionary of  the  Livingston  Inland  Mission  in  1879.  He  established 
a Station  at  Banza  Manteke,  one  hundred  and  fifty  miles  up  from 
the  mouth  of  the  Congo,  and  ten  miles  South  of  that  River.  He 
labored  there  seven  years  before  the  first  native  was  converted. 
Meanwhile,  the  Mission,  by  its  own  voluntary  proffer,  had  been 
transferred  to  the  American  Baptist  Missionary  Union.  Mr. 
Richards  came  to  us  with  the  Mission,  and  continued  his  great 
work  at  Banza  Manteke  under  the  new  auspices.  He  is  now  the 
Pastor  of  a large  Baptist  Church  there  and  the  only  apostle  of  the 
Lord  Jesus  in  the  wide  region  roundabout.  A year  or  more  ago 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Richards  returned  to  England  for  rest,  for  they 
were  worn  by  the  excesive  labors  of  years.  By  request  of  the 
Executive  Committee  of  the  Missionary  Union  Mr.  Richards  came 
to  our  country  to  tell  the  wonderful  story  of  the  Lord’s  work  in 
the  Congo  to  our  people.  He  has  spoken  well  nigh  a hundred 
times  in  different  sections  of  our  land  and  to  the  great  delight 
and  profit  of  our  churches.  From  a great  many,  East  and  West, 
the  request  has  come  that  the  inspiring  address  might  appear  in 
print,  “ verbatim  et  literatim.”  The  cry  for  it  has  been  heard. 
The  dear  missionary,  honored  of  God  and  loved  by  American  Bap- 
tists, will  in  a few  weeks  be  again  at  Banza  Manteke  to  take  up 
the  work  which  he  was  obliged  to  leave  to  another  for  the  while, 
but  we  who  heard  him,  and  thousands  who  did  not,  will  read  his 
marvellous  story,  and  follow  him  with  our  prayers. 

A.  H.  Burungham. 

Times  Building , New  York, 

Feb.  15,  1891. 


“God  is  love,’’  and  if  He  is  love  He  cannot  help  loving  ; and 
• He  so  loved  the  world  that  He  gave  His  only  begotten  Son  ” to 
die  for  it ; and  after  the  Son  died  to  accomplish  the  work  of  re- 
demption. After  He  had  risen  again,  and  “ brought  life  and  im- 
mortality to  light,”  He  said  to  His  disciples  : “ Go  ye  into  all  the 
world  and  preach  the  gospel  to  the  whole  creation.”  He  means  to 
establish  a kingdom  which  is  to  be  universal  and  eternal.  Some- 
times as  one  looks  abroad  on  the  earth  and  knows  how  heathendom 
is  increasing  faster  than  Christianity,  one’s  heart  is  apt  to  sink  ; 
still  the  promise  is  “the  kingdoms  of  this  earth  are  to  become  the 
kingdoms  of  our  Lord  and  of  his  Christ.”  It  is  encouraging  to 
read  such  promises  as  we  have  given  us  in  God’s  word  twenty-four 
centuries  ago.  Such  promises  as  we  have  in  the  book  of  Daniel. 
“ And  there  was  given  unto  Him  dominion,  and  glory,  and  a king- 
dom ; that  all  people,  nations,  and  languages,  should  serve  Him  ; 
His  dominion  is  an  everlasting  dominion,  which  shall  not  pass 
away,  and  His  kingdom  that  shall  not  be  destroyed.”  “And  the 
kingdom  and  dominion,  and  the  greatness  of  the  kingdom  under 
the  -whole  heaven,  shall  be  given  to  the  people  of  the  saints  of  the 
Most  High,  whose  kingdom  is  an  everlasting  kingdom,  and  all  do- 
minions shall  serve  and  obey  Him.”  The  early  disciples  of  Christ 
could  not  understand  that  the  kingdom  of  Christ  was  not  to  be  a 
temporal  kingdom.  After  speaking  to  them  for  forty  days  concern- 
ing the  kingdom  they  said  to  Him  : “ Wilt  thou  restore  the  king- 
dom to  Israel  ? ” They  could  not  think  that  this  kingdom  was  to 
be  for  any  but  Israel,  and  so  Christ  said  that  “ it  was  not  for  them 
to  know  of  the  times  and  seasons.”  I cannot  make  you  under- 
stand this  kingdom  now,  but  “ when  the  Holy  Spirit  is  come  upon 
you,”  you  will  understand  that  the  kingdom  is  to  be  a spiritual 
kingdom  ; not  for  the  Jews  alone,  but  for  the  whole  world.  After 
the  day  of  Pentecost  Peter  seems  to  understand  much  better  than 
before  ; his  mind  and  heart  seem  broadened,  and  he  can  say  that 
“the  promise  is  to  you  and  your  children  and  all  that  are  afar  off,” 
and  God  taught  Peter  this  lesson  by  sending  him  to  Cornelius  ; 
but  even  after  this  he  did  not  appear  to  get  over  the  old  Jewish 
idea,  and  God  raised  up  a special  apostle  to  preach  especially  to  the 
Gentiles.  There  seems  to  be  a good  deal  of  that  Jewish  spirit  about 
us.  There  is  no  doubt  but  that  God  took  the  privilege  of  preach- 


4 


ing  the  gospel  away  from  the  Jews  because  they  refused  to  do  it, 
and  gave  it  to  the  Gentiles  of  Europe  and  America,  and  has  open- 
ed up  the  world  to  them,  and  if  they  do  not  give  the  world  the 
gospel,  no  doubt  God  will  raise  up  some  other  race  and  take  that 
privilege  of  preaching  from  them.  I suppose  that,  however,  God 
will  not  hold  us  responsible  for  not  preaching  to  a people  unknown 
to  us. 

Africa  has  been  called  the  “ Dark  Continent  ” because  it  was 
unknown  to  us  ; because  it  was  unknown  to  geographers,  except  a 
few  parts  of  it  on  the  borders  ; but  from  a geographical  stand- 
point it  can  no  longer  be  called  the  “Dark  Continent.”  There  are 
probably  a few  places  where  a missionary  could  not  go  and  settle 
down  among  the  people  and  preach  the  gospel,  but  it  is  still, 
morally  and  spiritually,  the  “ Dark  Continent.” 

Stanley  tells  us  that  he  travelled  from  Zanzibar  around  the 
lakes  and  down  the  Congo  to  Bauana  for  one  thousand  days,  ex- 
cept one,  and  though  many  thousands  of  people  passed  before  him 
every  day,  he  did  not  find  one  that  kne'w  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  or 
knew  that  there  was  salvation  provided  for  man.  Then  it  was  that 
some  Christians  began  to  think  that  it  was  time  that  these  people 
should  know  of  Christ,  and  a mission  was  started  in  1878.  The 
reason  why  this  region  was  unknown  for  so  long,  probably  most  of 
you  know ; that  it  was  owing  to  the  formation  of  the  continent, 
which  has  been  compared  to  a saucer  turned  upside  down, 
necessitating  in  its  rivers  fierce  rapids  and  huge  cataracts.  The 
Congo  is  no  exception  to  this  rule.  Although  the  mouth  of  the 
Congo  has  been  known  for  more  than  four  hundred  years,  yet  no 
more  than  one  hundred  miles  had  been  known  until  Stanley  came 
down.  Large  expeditions  had  been  sent  out  to  explore  that  region, 
but  had  failed  to  do  so.  The  river  is  only  navigable  for  one  hun- 
dred miles  from  the  mouth.  Then  you  get  two  hundred  miles  of 
cataracts,  from  Yellala  to  Stanley  Pool.  No  steamer  could  asceud 
those  cataracts,  and  as  one  leaves  the  river,  other  difficulties  at 
once  meet  him.  There  are  no  roads,  simply  narrow  paths,  leading 
from  village  to  village,  through  long  grass  growing  from  six  to 
eighth  feet  high,  over  mountains  and  hills,  down  through  valleys 
aud  deep  ravines,  across  rivers  and  streams,  through  woods  and 
over  rocks  in  endless  variety.  There  were  no  means  of  transpor- 
tation; no  wagons,  no  beasts  of  burden,  and  110  native  porters  that 
we  could  obtain  at  that  time.  Besides,  the  climate  is  very  danger- 
ous. Two  missionaries,  however,  were  sent  out  in  1879  with  a few 
cases  of  provisions  and  a few  supplies  for  barter,  to  penetrate  this 


5 


region  from  Yellala  to  Stanley  Pool.  Two  missionaries  were  ex-  j 
pected  to  (lo  wliat  large  expeditions  had  failed  to  do.  Everything  J 
must  be  taken  ; provisions,  barter  goods,  such  as  calico,  spoons,  I 
plates,  etc.,  as  there  is  no  money  currency.  You  must  also  take 
your  own  tents,  furniture,  medicine,  and  everything  eventually 
necessary,  as  there  are  no  hotels  in  that  region.  These  missiona- 
ries did  not,  however,  get  as  far  as  Stanley  Pool,  but  they  did  well, 
and  got  as  far  as  a place  called  Palabala.  about  four  or  five  miles 
south  6f  the  Congo  River  and  about  ten  miles  above  the  first  cata- 
ract, and  they  established  a station  there  on  the  hills  about  sixteen 
hundred  feet  high. 

In  1879  I was  ser*t  out  with  some  others  to  try  to  get  to  Stan- 
ley Pool,  if  possible  or  at  least  get  beyond  Palabala  forty  or  fifty 
miles,  and  to  establish  a station,  hoping  in  this  way  to  establish  a 
chain  of  stations,  and  so  to  reach  Stanley  Pool.  The  idea  was  to 
get  to  Stanley  Pool  and  establish  a station  there,  and  put  a steamer 
on  the  upper  Congo,  and  preach  the  gospel  to  the  people  ; but  this 
undertaking  was  much  more  difficult  than  at  first  expected.  It 
took  many  years  before  we  were  established  at  Stanley  Pool  and 
many  precious  lives  were  laid  down.  Why  the  people  of  the  cata- 
ract region  and  the  lower  Congo  should  be  counted  as  unworthy  of 
the  gospel,  I never  could  understand.  It  seemed  a mania  at  that 
time  to  get  to  Stanley  Pool,  but  now  there  are  two  mission  steam- 
ers plying  on  the  upper  Congo,  and  there  will  soon  be  another ; 
but  there  are  comparatively  few  stations  there.  The  missionaries 
are  not  forthcoming,  and  while  we  are  delaying  difficulties  are 
arising  j,  traders  and  others  are  going  into  the  interior,  and  they  do 
a great  deal  more  harm,  I think,  to  the  missionary  cause  than  they 
do  good.  Probably  gin  and  rum,  powder  and  guns  will  soon  be 
pouring  into  the  country',  notwithstanding  the  law  to  prohibit 
drink  where  it  has  not  already  been  introduced.  It  has  already 
been  introduced  on  the  coast,  and  what  is  to  prevent  native  traders 
from  using  this  railroad,  which  is  being  built  to  connect  the  lower 
and  upper  Congo,  to  bring  these  things  into  the  interior  ? The 
peopl.e  are  born  traders,  and  take  things  from  market  to  market. 
Native  markets  are  established  all  over  the  country',  and  long  be- 
fore the  white  man  had  ever  been  there  guns,  powder  and  other 
things  had  found  their  way  into  the  interior. 

The  difficulties  of  transport  were  enormous.  The  first  two 
missionaries  obtained  Kroo-boys  from  the  Kroo  coast.  As  they 
were  only  engaged  for  one  year  their  fare  had  to  be  paid  down  and 
up,  and  this  was  rather  expensive  to  use  them  as  porters,  and  so 


6 


our  Society  said,  “Why  not  try  donkeys?  They  are  very  hardy 
animals.”  So  we  got  five  or  six  donkeys  from  the  island  of  Tene- 
riffe,  as  that  was  a warm  climate,  and  we  thought  donkeys  from 
there  could  probably  stand  the  climate  of  Africa  better  than  if  we 
got  them  from  a colder  climate.  Our  donkeys  were  landed  at  a 
place  called  Masuka.  We  had  to  make  our  own  saddles  of  canvas 
that  we  had  with  us,  and  we  loaded  up  our  donkeys  and  started  off 
for  Palabala,  a distance  of  fifteen  miles.  This  road  had  never  been 
travelled  before  by  a white  man,  but  as  the  only  trader  there  prom- 
ised us  a guide,  we  did  not  think  it  would  be  at  all  difficult  to  find 
our  way  there.  Well,  we  started  off  in  good  style  and  it  seemed 
quite  a success.  Presently  our  path  led  down  to  a stream  of  water. 
At  the  bottom  of  the  stream  were  rocks  and  boulders  and  large 
stones,  which  made  the  stream  very  difficult  to  ford,  never  intended 
evidently  for  donkeys  or  anybody  else  to  cross.  The  first  donkeys 
crossed  all  right,  and  then  it  came  to  my  donkey,  and  it  refused  to 
go  across.  I gently  encouraged  it  with  a little  strap  I had,  and  it 
gave  a spring  and  jumped  right  into  the  middle  of  the  stream. 
The  water  was  about  three  feet  deep,  and  when  it  got  in  it  did  not 
• go  right  across,  as  I expected  it  would,  but  quietly  sat  down  in  the 
middle  of  the  stream,  bales  and  all.  The  donkey  seemed  to  say, 
“ Well,  now,  this  is  a very  hot  day ; this  water  is  deliciously  cool  ; 
why  not  let  me  alone  ? ” We  urged  it,  but  it  refused  to  move,  and 
we  had  to  take  a bath  ourselves.  We  got  in  the  water  and  took  the 
bales  off  and  got  the  donkey  out  and  started  off  on  the  other  side. 
Then  the  path  began  to  lead  up  the  hill,  and  the  bales  began  to 
slip  back,  and  we  had  to  fix  them  from  time  to  time  to  keep  them 
from  slipping  back.  This  made  it  very  tiresome  : but  at  last  we 
got  to  the  top  of  the  hill.  And  then  the  path  began  to  lead  down 
a very  steep  hill,  and  the  bales  would  persist  in  going  forward  until 
they  reached  the  donkey’s  neck,  and  then  it  would  hold  down  its 
head,  and  the  bales  would,  of  course,  go  over.  At  last  the  sun 
began  to  go  down,  and  the  twilight  is  very  short,  and  we  began  to 
think  it  was  time  to  put  up  for  the  night.  We  put  up  our  tents, 
but  as  the  distance,  which  we  had  expected  to  go,  was  only  fifteen 
miles,  we  had  made  very  little  provision  for  the  journey.  The 
other  missionary  spread  out  his  blankets  and  soon  he  fell  asleep. 
I knew  there  were  scorpions,  snakes  and  jiggars,  and  I did  not  care 
to  sleep  with  them  as  companions  ; so  I spread  out  my  blankets  on 
the  bales  and  boxes,  and  put  a blanket  on  the  top,  which  looked 
very  comfortable  ; but  when  I stretched  myself  out  on  it  I found 
that  the  edges  of  the  boxes  were  not  at  all  soft,  so  I preferred  to 


7 


sit  up,  as  I had  never  slept  out  of  a bed  before.  The  next  morning 
we  started  ofT  again,  and  the  path  led  along  the  side  of  a very  pre- 
cipitous hill.  The  path  being  very  narrow,  I trembled  for  the 
safety  of  the  donkeys,  believing  that  if  they  fell  they  would  cer- 
tainly be  killed.  Presently  my  donkey  lost  its  footing  and  fell, 
and  began  to  roll  down  the  side  of  the  hill.  I was  obliged  to  let 
go  the  rope,  and  then  it  began  to  roll  faster  and  faster  down 
through  the  grass,  and  all  I could  see  flying  through  the  air  were 
hoofs  and  bales,  faster  and  faster  until  suddenly  stopped  by  a tree 
that  was  growing  out  of  the  side  of  the  hill.  We  went  down  ex- 
pecting to  find  the  donkey  dead,  if  not  in  pieces,  but  found  that  it 
was  still  breathing.  We  got  the  bales  ofT  and  got  them  up.  After 
much  hard  work  we  succeeded  in  pulling  and  hauling  the  donkey  j 
out  on  the  path,  and  we  put  the  bales  on  the  donkey’s  back  and  off  j 
we  started  again.  It  did  not  seem  to  be  injured  at  all.  We  got  on 
this  way  until  we  reached  Palabala  on  the  fifth  day,  a distance  of 
fifteen  miles.  We  had  learned  much  from  this,  our  first  travelling 
in  Africa,  and  made  preparations  to  start  off  into  the  interior  to- 
ward Stanley  Pool.  No  one  knew  what  was  on  before.  No  one 
had  ever  been  that  way,  and  we  got  about  fifty  or  sixty  miles  be- 
yond Palabala  at  a place  called  Riverlee.  The  path  appeared  to 
end  and  there  seemed  to  be  a ferry,  but  no  canoes  or  boats  could 
be  seen  which  we  could  engage  to  take  us  across.  Our  provisions 
and  cloth  were  nearly  finished,  and  the  other  two  missionaries 
thought  that  we  had  better  return.  We  got  back  about  ten  miles 
from  the  river  to  a place  called  Ban/a  Manteke,  and  as  there  were 
a good  many  villages  about  there  and  the  people  looked  rather 
friendly,  I thought  it  a good  place  to  establish  a station,  and  I 
could  not  see  the  use  of  returning  to  Palabala,  as  I had  agreed  to 
establish  a station  beyond,  if  possible. 

As  we  only  had  one  tent  we  built  a hut  in  two  days  out  of  the 
long  grass  growing  there,  and  in  September,  1879,  I found  myself 
alone  among  those  people  and  entirely  unknown  to  me.  I knew 
nothing  of  their  customs  nor  their  language. 

They  might  have  been  cannibals  ; they  might  have  eaten  me 
up,  for  I knew  when  darkness  came  on  I began  to  feel  lonely  and  : 
thought  of  those  I had  left  behind.  I tried  hard  to  banish  such 
thoughts,  and  said  to  myself,  I have  given  myself  to  missionary 
work  and  must  settle  down  and  make  my  home  here.  I at  once 
began  to  try  to  study  the  people  and  found  it  very  difficult  as  I 
could  not  understand  their  language.  It  is  very  difficult  to  find 
out  the  customs  and  beliefs  of  the  heathen.  You  might  live  there 


8 


I 

( 

\ 


I 


for  twenty  years  and  know  very  little  about  them.  There  aJe 
some  things  which  you  will  soon  find  out  without  any  difficulty 
whatever.  The  people  there  appear  to  suffer  from  a disease  called 
kleptomania.  They  would  soon  relieve  you  from  the  care  of  your 
things  if  you  would  allow  them.  I would  wash  my  hands  outside 
my  hut,  and  they  would  think  soap  a very  nice  thing  to  wash  with, 
and  as  I turned  round  and  left  it  it  was  gone  and  everything  else 
that  you  left  about.  I would  look  into  their  faces  and  accuse  them 
of  stealing  and  taking  my  thiugs,  and  they  would  look  innocently 
into  mine  and  deny  it  and  not  even  blush.  I soon  found  out  that 
they  were  unable  to  speak  the  truth,  and  that  they  considered  it 
quite  a compliment  to  be  called  a liar. 

The  greatest  difficulty  to  begin  with  was  the  language.  I had 
at  once  to  begin,  as  I had  two  kroo  boys  with  me  for  whom  I had 
to  provide  food  and  I had  to  barter.  As  I could  not  talk  I would 
hold  up  a piece  of  cloth  and  look  at  the  potatoes  and  fowls,  and 
they  would  nod  assent.  They  would  take  possession  of  the  cloth 
and  I would  take  the  potatoes  and  fowls.  I went  on  in  this  way 
for  some  time  and  found  that  this  would  not  do,  but  must  in  some 
way  get  hold  of  the  language.  They  had  no  dictionaries  nor  gram- 
mars, nor  books  nor  literature.  No  white  man  had  ever  acquired 
the  language.  I got  a note  book  and  placed  it  outside  of  my  hut 
on  a little  table,  or  rather  box,  and  determined  to  write  down 
everything  I could  hear,  phonetically,  and  write  down  what  I 
thought  it  meant,  until  I got  quite  a number  of  words,  phrases 
and  sentences.  I at  once  began  to  use  them.  Although  the  peo- 
ple would  laugh  at  my  pronunciations  and  the  way  I put  the  words 
together.  I did  not  mind  that.  I found  it  very  difficult  to  get 
hold  of  some  words.  I tried  to  get  hold  of  the  word  “mother,” 
as  I saw  that  there  was  great  affection  between  the  mothers  and 
the  children.  At  last  I got  hold  of  a word  which  I thought  meant 
mother.  The  word  was  “ukuluntu”  which  I afterwards  found  meant 
a full  grown  man,  and  I was  about  as  near  as  this  in  many  other 
words.  For  instance,  I was  about  three  months  in  getting  the 
word  for  “yesterday.”  At  last  I began  to  try  to  get  hold  of  the 
grammar  of  the  language.  This  I found  difficult.  For  instance,  I 
began  with  the  nouns  and  wanted  to  get  the  plurals  and,  of  course, 
expected  to  see  the  change  at  the  end  of  the  word,  but  never 
could  hear  any.  I wound  hear  “dinkondo”  (plantain)  but  I wanted 
to  say  plantains.  At  last  I heard  a man  say  “moukondo,”  and 
I said  that  is  the  plural,  “di,”  singular,  “ma,”  plural.  Then  I hear 
"nsusu”  (fowl),  and  I thought  the  plural  would  be  “maususu,”  and 


9 


I would  say  “ niansusu,”  and  they  would  laugh  and  say,  “ not  so, 
but  “zinsusu.”  Then  I got  hold  of  the  word  “muntu”  and  I ex- 
pected-that  the  plural  would  be  “ manmuntu,’"’  but  no,  it  was 
“antu.”  Sol  went  on  and  found  that  there  were  sixteen  classes 
of  nouns.  The  noun  is  the  governing  word  in  the  sentence. 
Nouns  have  prefixes  which  go  right  through  the  sentence.  This  is 
what  is  called  the  alliterative  concord.  For  instance,  it  might  be  1 
illustrated  by  the  word  *' fiiisusu,”  a little  fowl.  “ Finsu  fiame 
fiafiua  finabudianya  masanya,”  (the  little  fowl  of  mine  there  eats 
corn). 

Then  after  a time  I began  to  try  to  get  hold  of  some  preposi- 
tions. I got  hold  to  the  word  “ vonda,”  to  kill,  but  I wanted  to 
say  “kill  forme,”  but  I could  not  get  hold  of  the  word  “for.” 
About  this  time  I heard  the  word  “ vondila”  ; by  this  I found  that 
“ ila”  was  used  instead  of  for.  “ Ila”  by  itself,  of  course,  meant 
nothing,  but  connected  with  the  verb  meant  “for.”  “Vondila”  to 
kill  for.  Then  I heard  the  word  “ vondisa.”  “ Isa”  was  the  cau- 
sitive,  “vondisa”  to  cause  to  kill.  Then  I heard  “vondisila,” 
which  I found  meant  to  cause  to  kill  for.  “Isa”  is  the  causitive 
and  “ila”  the  applied  form.  The  fowls  were  fighting  and  I heard 
them  say  “ zinsusu  zinabuvondasana,”  the  fowls  are  killing  each 
other.  We  called  that  the  reciprocal  form.  I went  on  in  that  way 
until  I found  that  there  were  seventeen  different  classes  of  verbs. 
There  are  also  very  many  tenses,  besides  the  ordinary  tenses,  pres- 
ent, past  and  future,  which  have  specific  forms.  For  instance, 

“ Npondilenyi,”  which  is  from  “vonda,”  means  I killed  this 
morning;  “ nyiavondila,”  I killed  yesterday.  From  these  stems 
you  can  form  nouns.  “Tonda,”  to  thank  ; “tondula”  is  the  re- 
versitive  form  of  the  verb,  which  would  mean  to  be  unthankful  or 
ungrateful.  From  this  word  you  could  form  the  noun  “ lutondu- 
la,”  ingratitude,  and  in  this  way  we  have  very  expressive  nouns. 

“ Zola”  to  love  ; “ zolasana”  to  love  each  other,  which  is  the  re- 
ciprocal form  ; and  from  this  you  can  form  the  noun  “luzolasunu,  ” 
a loving  of  each  other.  So  you  will  see  that  this  language  is  not, 
as  some  suppose,  a mere  jargon,  but  it  is  a beautiful  language, 
very  euphonious  and  flowing,  with  numerous  inflexions.  It  is 
very  expressive  and  you  can  express  almost  any  thought  you  wish. 
When  this  language  is  once  known  it  is  very  easy  to  preach,  and 
translate  the  scriptures  into  it.  I think  that  if  some  of  our  best 
linguists  were  to  try  to  form  a perfect  language  they  could  not  do 
better  that  follow  the  Congo  language.  The  language  seems  to  be 
altogether  superior  to  the  people,  and  there  must  have  been  a time 


10 


when  they  were  in  a high  state  of  civilization,  but  have  somehow, 
or  by  some  means  degenerated.  The  great  Bantu  languages, 
spoken  from  about  six  degrees  north  of  the  equator  down  to  the 
Cape  evidently  ruled  and  belonged  to  one  people.  The  language 
spoken  in  Zanzibar  is  related  to  our  Banza  Manteke,  as  many  of 
the  words  are  identical  and  the  construction  of  the  language  is 
very  much  the  same.  The  word  “Nzain  Nzambebizi  ” is  the  same 
as  used  in  Victoria  Nza  and  Albert  Nza  and  Nyazsa  and  Tag- 
anika.  The  native  word  for  the  Congo  River  is  not  Congo,  but 
“Nzadi.”  “Nbizi,”  a fish,  “nza”  a river  and  “Zambesi,”  a fish- 
river. 

After  being  able  to  use  the  langage  a little,  I began  to  try  to 
find  out  the  customs,  superstitions  and  religion  of  the  people,  I 
asked  them  who  made  the  sun,  the  moon,  the  stars,  the  plantains 
and  potatoes  and  everything  else,  and  they  said,  “Nzambi.”  I 
asked  them  where  “Nzambi”  lived,  and  they  said  in  the  heavens. 
One  said  that  when  it  thundered  that  “ Nzambi”  was  boiling  his 
pot.  So  they  know  there  is  a great  creator.  Then  I asked  them 
why  they  did  not  worship  “ Nzambi,”  but  no,  they  did  not  think 
he  was  a good  God  and. they  did  not  thank  him.  He  did  not  con- 
cern himself  abcut  them  ; he  was  too  far  away,  They  were  as 
Paul  described  the  heathen  in  the  first  chapter  of  Romans  (ver. 
19  : 25).  They  have  little  images  cut  out  of  wood  like  themselves, 
bird’s  heads  and  bird’s  beaks  and  bird’s  claws  ; snake’s  heads  and 
snake’s  eggs  ; little  wooden  images  cut  out  like  animals  ; these 
are  their  gods,  or  their  charms.  In  them  they  trust  for  protection, 
for  protection  from  harm,  from  sickness  and  death,  and  misfortune, 
but  they  never  expect  to  receive  any  blessings  from  them.  The  idea 
is  to  keep  away  the  power  of  witchcraft  or  evil  spirits.  They  believe 
sickness  and  death,  and  all  misfortnne,  due  to  witchcraft.  If  there 
were  no  witches  there  would  be  no  sickness  and  death.  They  have 
charms  to  counteract  the  power  of  the  witchcraft.  They  have  witch 
doctors  which  they  call  “Zinganga.”  For  instance,  if  a person  is 
sick,  they  send  for  the  zinganga.  He  comes  wfith  a great  many 
incantations  and  tries  to  drive  the  devil  out,  but  he  does  not  often 
succeed,  and  then  if  the  one  who  is  sick  does  not  get  better,  they 
have  what  is  called  “ vintula  moyu  ” (returning  life),  and  the 
zinganga  comes  and  performs  more  incantations,  and  then  the}'  take 
up  the  sick  person  and  throw  him  violently  to  and  fro  to  return 
life,  and  often  they  drive  out  the  little  life  there  is.  At  other 
times  the  zinganga  is  sent  for  and  he  points  out  the  witch,  and  this 
person  has  to  take  poison.  He  will  of  course  often  protest  and  say 


11 


that  he  does  not  bewitch  any  one,  and  has  no  desire  to  do  so, 
nevertheless,  he  must  come  and  take  the  poison.  If  lie  vomits  it, 
they  say  that  he  is  innocent,  and  if  it  kills  him,  he  is  guilty.  In 
the  case  of  the  death  of  a prominent  man,  especially  a chief,  they 
do  not  do  this,  but  the  zinganga  points  out  a man  and  he  is  taken 
to  a hill  top  and  sometimes  they  shoot  him,  sometimes  they  cut 
his  throat  and  sometimes  they  burn  him.  No  doubt  thousands  of 
innocent  people  in  Africa  are  slaughtered  daily.  Travellers  and 
others  passing  through  the  country  and  seeing  these  things  pro- 
nounce these  people  to  be  very  cruel  and  barbarous,  delighting  in 
shedding  of  blood,  and  sometimes  imagine  that  they  have  seen 
cannibals ; but  I do  not  believe  the  African  is  by  any  means  natu- 
rally a cruel  man.  I believe  the  Anglo-Saxon  to  be  naturally  Jar 
more  cruel  and  brutal  than  the  African.  When  graceless  white 
men  go  away  from  all  the  restraints  of  society,  from  public  opin- 
ion, from  the  salt  of  the  earth,  from  the  indirect  influences  of 
Christianity,  they  seem  to  become  demons.  I have  seen  more 
brutal  things  done  by  one  white  man  in  one  day  than  I have  ever 
seen  done  among  the  Africans  all  the  time  I have  lived  among 
them.  It  is  not  from  cruelty  that  the  Africans  poison  and  kill  each 
other  in  the  way  described,  but  it  is  because  they  believe  those 
persons  condemned  by  the  zinganga  to  be  guilty  as  we  do  when 
persons  are  condemned  by  a judge  and  jury  in  a court  of  justice. 

After  a time  I began  to  try  to  show  them  that  sickness  and 
death  and  all  our  misfortunes  wTere  not  due  to  witchcraft,  but  to 
sin.  So  I began  to  give  them  an  account  of  the  creation  and  the 
fall,  as  we  have  in  Genesis  ; to  show  them  that  wre  inherited  sin 
from  our  first  parents  and  through  sin  death  and  sickness  and  all 
our  woes  come.  I began  to  try  to  show  them  that  God  was  not 
only  a great  creator  and  all  powerful,  but  was  also  kind  and  loving. 
I remember  one  day  I was  trying  to  show  them  that  God  is  good, 
and  one  man  said  to  me,  “ Is  that  so  ?”  We  have  an  insect  called 
the  jigger,  introduced  in  the  Congo  about  fifty  years  ago  from 
Brazil,  but  is  now  spread  over  the  whole  Congo  region.  In  ap- 
pearance it  is  very  much  like  a small  flea,  almost  microscopical. 
It  gets  in  under  the  toe-nails,  or  into  any  hard  place  in  the  bottom 
of  the  foot,  or  almost  anywhere  where  it  can  find  a home,  but  es- 
pecially under  the  nails.  There  they  make  a little  bag  about  the 
size  of  a pea  and  this  bag  is  filled  with  jigger  eggs,  and  if  not 
taken  out  they  go  on  making  these  bags  until  a person  will  lose 
the  toe  if  they  are  not  removed.  It  is  quite  a common  thing  to 
come  across  natives  with  one  or  two  toes  gone  from  their  feet.  It 


12 


is  no  doubt  the  greatest  pest  that  we  have  in  the  Congo.  As  I was 
trying  to  tell  this  native  that  God  was  good,  he  said  to  me,  “ You 
say  God  is  good,”  and  he  pointed  to  the  ground,  and  said,  “ Who 
made  the  jigger?”  They  would  ask  questions  that  were  not 
easily  answered.  Sometimes  I could  answer  these  questions  to 
their  satisfaction,  but  not  always  to  my  own.  I went  on  this  way, 
teaching  them  abont  the  creation,  the  fall,  the  flood,  and  giving 
them  some  account  of  the  children  of  Israel,  thinking  it  was  ne- 
cessary to  give  them  some  idea  of  the  Old  Testament  before  com- 
mencing with  the  New.  I continued  this  until  I had  been  in  Af- 
rica four  years.  During  that  time  I had  suffered  much  with  fever. 
When  I first  went  to  Banza  Manteke  I had  it  every  three  weeks, 
and  the  hardships  of  this  pioneer  work  had  reduced  me  so  much 
tliSt  I was  obliged  to  return  home  for  rest.  The  people  were  just  as 
much  heathen  as  when  I went  there  ; I saw  no  change  whatever. 
Just  as  I was  thinking  of  returning  again  to  Congo,  there  was  one 
thing  that  troubled  me  very  much,  and  that  was  that  the  Congo 
people  did  not  feel  themselves  to  be  sinners.  I mentioned  this  to 
a prominent  Christian  worker  who  had  great  experience  in  mission 
work,  and  said  I did  not  see  how  I could  preach  a Saviour  uutil 
they  felt  themselves  sinners.  I was  advised  to  go  back  and  preach 
the  law.  “ You  know  it  is  the  law  that  convinces  of  sin  aud  I 
thought  to  myself,  well,  no  doubt  that  is  so.  On  reaching  Banza 
Manteke,  the  first  thing  I did  was  to  translate  the  Ten  Command- 
ments, and  began  to  read  and  expound  them  to  the  people. 
I asked  them  after  I had  finished  reading  them  if  they  thought 
they  were  good,  aud  they  always  assented  that  they 
were  very  good,  and  I would  ask  them  if  they  had  kept 
these  laws,  and  they  would  all  say  “Yes.”  God  says,  “Thou 
shalt  have  no  other  Gods  but  me  ; thou  shalt  not  make  any  idols.” 
“ You  do  not  worship  God  and  you  make  idols  ; how  do  you  say 
that  you  keep  these  commandments  ? ” They  would  answer,  “We 
do.”  I would  say  that  we  had  all  sinned  and  broken  these  laws, 
and  they  would  say,  “ The  white  man  may  be  a sinner  ; the  people 
on  the  top  may  be  sinners  ; aud  those  below  may  be  sinners  ; but 
we  are  not.”  One  day  there  was  a man  in  the  company  that  I was 
speaking  to  who  had  stolen  from  me,  and  I thought  I would  test 
him  at  the  risk  of  getting  myself  into  trouble.  I said  to  this  man, 
“ Thou  shalt  not  steal.  Have  you  kept  that  commandment?  ” He 
said,  “Yes.”  I said,  “ How  about  that  hammock  you  stole  from 
me?”  “ You  do  not  call  that  stealing,  do  you?  I only  took  it 
away.”  “ How  about  the  peanuts  we  caught  you  taking  out  of  the 


13 


house?”  He  became  very  indignant  and  said,  ‘‘The  white  man 
has  called  me  a thief  before  these  people.  He  has  disgraced  inyj 
character  and  mined  my  reputation.”  And  he  turned  away  from  , 
me  in  disgust.  This  confirmed  me  in  my  opinion  that  the  people  I 
had  no  consciences.  I went  on  in  this  way  for  six  years,  and  the 
people  were  no  better  than  when  I first  went  there,  as  far  as  I could 
see.  They  went  on  with  the  poison  giving  and  the  disgusting  night  i 
dances,  and  did  not  seem  one  whit  better  than  when  I first  saw 
them.  I had  lived  a long  time  among  these  people,  and  sometimes  | 
my  heart  would  almost  faint  to  see  the  little  progress  that  had  been  • 
made.  I began  to  think  that  it  was  almost  hopeless  to  expect  the 
old  people  to  become  converted,  and  so  thought  it  best  to  work 
among  the  young.  Travellers  said  that  missionaries  were  out  of 
place  in  the  Congo.  Possibly  after  one  or  two  hundred  years  of 
civilizing  they  might  be  able  to  understand  what  we  wish  to  teach 
them,  but  at  present  they  were  utterly  incapable  of  comprehending 
such  mental  things  as  we  taught.  This  did  not  in  any  way 
strengthen  our  faith.  At  this  time  my  wife  was  with  me,  and 
worked  hard  among  the  women  and  children  trying  to  bring  them 
to  Christ.  She  became  very  ill  and  was  obliged  to  go  home.  She 
was  so  ill  that  she  had  to  be  carried  on  board  the  ship,  but  was 
quite  willing  to  go  alone  among  strangers  from  Congo  to  England, 
and  that  I should  stay  and  work,  as  she  was  very  anxious  that  the 
work  should  go  on.  I think  she  sliowed  herself  quite  as  brave  as 
Stanley.  After  she  left  I became  very  ill.  I had  an  attack  of  bilious 
hemorrhagic  fever,  which  is  a very  fatal  form,  and  has  carried  off 
many  of  our  missionaries,  and  it  nearly  carried  me  off.  I began  to 
think  very  seriously  about  my  past  experience.  No  one  could  tell 
what  we  first  missionaries  passed  through.  I believe  that  if  it  were 
all  written  down  few  would  believe  it.  I l>egan  to  think,  now  what 
is  this  all  for.  Probably  my  wife  will  die  on  her  way  home  and  I 
perhaps  shall  die  here.  The  people  are  no  better  at  Banza  Man- 
teke  than  they  were  six  years  ago.  The  only  difference  was  that 
they  seemed  to  respect  me  more.  They  look  upon  the  white  man 
as  a demon,  but  by  relieving  them  with  medicine  and  protecting 
them  from  the  white  men  who  passed  through  their  country  and 
tried  to  impose  upon  them,  I gained  their  respect.  One  time 
when  there  was  war  between  our  people  and  the  people  of  another 
tribe  I got  up  and  walked  between  the  two  parties,  and  they  stopped 
fighting,  and  the  next  day  they  came  and  thanked  me,  and  said 
that  they  would  have  been  crying  over  their  friends  if  I had  not 
stopped  them,  as  their  people  were  related,  but  otherwise  the 


14 


people  were  just  as  heathen  as  ever.  Being  weak  and  unable  to 
preach  I began  to  study  the  scriptures,  and  to  feel  there  was  some 
mistake  in  rny  preaching.  In  the  early  days  souls  were  converted, 
why  not  now  ? Is  the  gospel  less  powerful  now  than  then  ? If 
heathen  then  turned  from  dumb  idols  to  serve  the  living  God,  why 
should  not  these  people  in  Banza  Manteke  do  the  same  ? In  study- 
ing the  Gospels  and  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles  I began  to  see  my 
mistake  ; especially  in  reading  the  last  great  commission.  It  does 
not  say,  “ Go  ye  into  all  the  world  and  preach  Law,  or  Moses,  or 
Judaism,”  but  “ Go  ye  into  all  the  world  and  preach  the  gospel.” 
The  gospel  is  not  law.  What  does  the  Lord  Jesus  mean  when  He 
* says,  “Not  to  put  new  wine  into  old  bottle  skins,  because  the  wine 
will  burst  the  skins  ” ? What  does  he  mean  here  except  that  you 
must  not  mix  up  my  gospel  with  Judaism?  The  gospel  is  not  law. 
Law  came  by  Moses,  but  grace  and  truth  came  by  Jesus  Christ. 

So  I determined  that  I would  preach  the  gospel.  This  is 
what  I found  the  early  disciples  did.  They  did  not  preach 
law.  Peter  accuses  the  people  of  the  crucifixion  of  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ  five  times  in  four  chapters.  There  was  another 
thing  that  struck  me  very  much  in  reading  the  end  of  Luke  and 
the  first  of  the  Acts.  It  is  said  that  they  were  not  to  depart  from 
Jerusalem,  but  to  wait  until  they  were  endued  with  power  from  on 
high.  This  seems  very  strange,  as  they  had  Tteen  preachers 
throughout  Palestine.  They  had  cast  out  devils,  cured  the  sick, 
but  now  they  were  to  get  a new  power,  and  I began  to  think  seri- 
ously that  I had  not  this  power,  and  began  to  cry  out  for  it.  I 
know  this  point  is  discussed  iu  these  days.  One  prominent  man 
says  that  the  Holy  Ghost  was  given  on  the  Day  of  Pentecost,  and 
that  we  have  no  more  right  to  ask  for  a fresh  enduement  than  to 
ask  Christ  to  come  back  and  die  again.  I believe  that  this  is  so  ; 
that  the  Spirit  is  still  in  the  world.  It  is  said  that  when  a man 
becomes  a Christian  he  has  the  Holy  Spirit,  and  there  is  no  more 
to  accept.  There  seems  to  me  to  be  a difference  between  a man 
being  simply  a Christian  and  having  this  power  from  on  high  for 
service,  for  we  read  that  Philip  after  the  Day  of  Pentecost  went  to 
Samaria  and  preached  and  many  believed  and  were  baptized.  They 
were  Christians  ; they  were  Baptists.  You  could  not  keep  them 
away  from  the  Lord's  table  ; and  yet  we  read  that  Peter  and  John 
went  down  and  prayed  that  they  might  receive  the  Holy  Spirit, 
</  < for  as  yet  the  Holy  Spirit  had  fallen  upon  none  of  them.  After 
the  praying  and  laying  on  of  the  Apostles’  hands  the  Holy  Ghost 
came  upon  them.  No  doubt  there  are  times  when  people  receive 


15 


this  power  when  they  are  converted,  as  in  the  case  of  Cornelius, . 
when  we  read  that  the  Holy  Ghost  came  upon  him  while  Peter  was/ 
preaching.  I had  never  at  this  time  heard  of  tins  distinction,  but 
have  since  read  books  on  this  subject.  The  idea  of  special  power 
for  service  seems  to  run  through  the  scriptures.  Isa.  vi : 5 ; Jer.  i : - 
9-10;  Luke  iv  : 1,  18  ; Luke  xxiv  : 49  ; Acts  r,  4-8. 

I went  back  to  Rauza  Mantekc  with  a different  idea,  and  deter- 
mined to  preach  the  gospel,  and  cry  out  for  this  power  from  on 
high.  Then  I had  to  decide  as  to  what  the  gospel  was.  If  I preached 
Jesus  and  Him  crucified,  they  would  want  to  know  who  Jesus  was. 

I considered  it  necessary  to  teach  the  Incarnation,  life,  death,  res- 
urrection. miracles,  teaching,  intercession,  and  coming  again  of  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ.  I considered  that  the  best  way  to  do  this  was 
to  take  Luke’s  Gospel,  as  this  seemed  the  most  complete  and  most 
suitable  for  (ientiles.  1 began  translating  ten  or  twelve  verses  a 
day  as  best  I could,  and  then  read  and  expounded  them  to  the  peo- 
ple,  asking  God  to  bless  His  word.  The  people  were  at  once  more 
interested  in  the  gospel  than  when  I preached  the  law,  for  when  I 
preached  the  law  the  people  were  evidently  irritated  and  turned 
away  from  me,  as  they  did  not  like  to  be  accused  of  sin.  When  I 
preached  of  the  Lord  Jesus’  coming  as  a baby,  growing  up  to  be  a 
boy,  and  that  he  went  about  doing  good,  the  people  were  at  once 
interested,  and  I began  to  get  hopeful,  my  faith  was  strengthened 
and  believed  that  anybody  could  be  converted.  This  went  on  very 
well  until  I got  to  the  sixth  chapter  of  Luke,  thirtieth  verse,  then 
another  difficult}'  arose.  I should  mention  in  describing  the  char- 
acter of  the  people  that  they  were  notorious  beggars.  They  would 
ask  for  anything  they  saw.  They  would  ask  for  my  only  knife, 
blanket  or  plate,  and  I would  say  that  I could  not  give  them  to 
them,  and  they  would  say,  “ You  can  get  more.”  They  would  see 
me  write  a note  and  send  it  down  to  I’alabala  and  things  would 
come  up,  and  they  thought  the  white  man  by  merely  writing  a note 
could  get  everything  he  wanted,  and  wasn’t  he  mean  and  selfish 
not  to  give  them  all  they  asked  for.  Now  here  comes  the  text, 

“ Give  to  every  one  that  asketh  thee.”  I had  been  in  the  habit  of 
taking  things  in  their  Tinier.  The  man  who  helped  me  with  my 
translating  did  not  see  my  difficulty,  and  I told  him  that  I did  not 
need  him  further  that  day,  and  went  to  my  room  and  prayed.  The 
time  for  the  sendee  was  coming  on.  We  had  daily  sendee,  and  the 
thought  came  why  not  pass  over  that  verse,  and  then  my  con- 
science stung  me, which  said  that  that  would  not  be  honest.  Sendee 
time  came,  but  I did  not  go  on  with  the  gospel,  but  went  back  to 


16 


the  beginning,  and  I thought  this  would  give  me  some  time  to  con- 
sider the  meaning  of  this  text.  I could  not  find  that  it  meant  any- 
thing else  than  what  it  said.  I consulted  a commentary,  and  I have 
often  done  this  before,  and  very  often  found  that  it  says  nothing 
about  the  very  text  which  I wished  to  know  about,  but  this  did  say 
something.  It  said  the  Lord  is  speaking  on  general  principles,  and 
we  should  do  a great  deal  of  harm  instead  of  doing  good  if  we  were 
to  take  it  literally,  for  we  should  give  to  idlers,  drunkards,  etc. 
What  the  Lord  Jesus  means  is  simply  that  you  should  be  kind  and 
generous,  and  give  to  those  who  are  really  in  need  ; but  you  have 
also”  to  use  your  common  sense.  I thought  after  reading  this  why 
did  not  Jesus  say  just  what  he  meant.  Was  he  so  badly  educated 
that  he  could  not  express  his  thoughts  correctly  ? If  he  does  not 
mean  what  he  says  here,  how  can  I know  that  he  does  in  other 
places  ? I know  that  he  uses  figures  and  parables  that  may  be  in- 
terpreted differently,  but  here  is  a text  that  a child  can  understand, 
and  if  this  text  can  be  interpreted  into  being  kind  and  generous, 
why  not  others  on  the  same  broad  principles  ? 

If  we  are  allowed  to  interpret  scriptures  in  this  way  we  might 
teach  any  doctrine  we  like  from  them.  When  He  says,  ‘ ‘ He  that 
believeth  in  me  hath  eternal  life,”  we  believe  He  means  what  He 
says  ; but  suppose  this  eternal  does  not  refer  to  time  so  much  as  to 
quality.  Some  people  tell  us  that  the  word  eternal  does  not  mean 
eternal.  We  believe  that  He  means  what  it  says,  eternal  life,  and 
we  rest  content,  knowing  that  one  day  we  shall  see  His  face,  be- 
cause He  has  said  so.  Then  as  to  common  sense,  there  seems  to 
be  very  little  what  is  ordinarily  called  common  sense  in  the  sermon 
on  the  mount.  Would  common  sense  ever  dictate  such  precepts 
as  these — “ Blessed  are  the  poor,”  “ the  hungry,”  “ the  weeping.” 
“ Blessed  are  ye  when  men  shall  hate  you.”  Is  this  according  to 
common  sense  ? Does  not  common  sense  teach  us  that  we  are 
blessed  when  we  have  everything  and  are  well  off  and  happy? 
We  are  to  love  those  who  hate  us,  and  to  pray  for  our  enemies  ; 
would  common  sense  dictate  this  ? Would  common  sense  say,  “if 
a man  strikes  you  on  one  cheek,  turn  to  him  the  other?”  Com- 
mon sense  would  say,  “if  a man  strikes  you  on  one  cheek  you 
give  him  another.”  Would  common  sense  say,  “if  thy  enemy 
hunger,  feed  him  ?”  Common  sense  would  say,  let  him  starve  and 
the  quicker  he  is  dead  the  better.  “ Lay  not  up  for  yourselves 
treasures  upon  earth,  but  treasures  in  heaven.”  Does  not  com- 
mon sense  say,  “lay  up  a good  store  for  this  earth  and  then  talk 
of  spiritual  things.”  “ Seek  first  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven  and  His 


17 


righteousness.”  Does  not  common  sense  say,  secure  the  dollars 
by  might  ? 

Those  publicans  and  sinners  seem  to  be  not  at  all  a bad  class  » 
of  people  as  described  here,  or  lacking  in  common  sense,  for  they 
love  those  who  love  them,  and  they  do  good  to  those  who  do  good 
to  them,  and  they  lent  if  they  expected  to  get  it  back  again  ; but 
we  are  not  to  be  like  them,  but  like  our  bather  in  Heaven,  who  is 
kind  to  the  unthankful  and  evil.  What  is  called  common  sense  is 
often  nothing  but  common  conceit,  or  common  selfishness. 

A missionary  passed  down  at  this  time,  and  I mentioned  to 
him  my  difficulty,  but  he  smiled  and  said,  “ No  one  lives  up  to 
the  Gospel  literally  like  that,”  and  passed  on.  I never  have  been 
able  to  see  how  it  could  be  understood  figuratively.  Our  com- 
mander has  given  us  a very  solemn  warning  at  the  end  of  his  ser- 
mon on  the  mount  (Luke  vi.,  46-49):  “ And  why  call  ye  me  Lord, 
Lord,  and  do  not  the  things  which  I say  ? Every  one  that  cometh 
unto  me,  and  hearetli  my  words,  and  doeth  them,  I will  sliowT  you 
to  whom  he  is  like  ; he  is  like  a man  building  a house,  who  digged 
and  went  deep,  and  laid  a foundation  upon  the  rock  ; and  w hen  a 
flood  arose,  the  stream  brake  against  that  house,  and  could  not 
shake  it,  because  it  had  been  well  builded.  But  he  that  hearetli, 
and  doeth  not,  is  like  a man  that  built  a house  upon  the  earth 
without  a foundation  ; against  w'hich  the  stream  brake,  and 
straightway  it  fell  in  ; and  the  min  of  that  house  was  great.”  Be- 
sides, this  text  is  a command,  and  one  command  is  just  as  im- 
portant as  another.  When  we  read  ‘ ‘ speak  evil  of  no  man,”  we 
have  no  more  right  to  break  that  commandment  than  we  have  to 
murder  or  steal.  **  He  that  hath  my  commandments  and  keepeth 
them,  he  it  is  that  lovetli  me.”  We  have  to  be  careful  when  we 
interpret  the  scriptures  that  we  do  not  interpolate. 

After  about  a fortnight  of  prayer  and  consideration,  I came  to 
the  conclusion  that  the  Lord  Jesus  meant  just  w^hat  He  said,  and  I 
went  and  read  it  to  the  people.  I told  them  that  they  knew  I 
had  not  lived  this,  but  Jesus  meant  just  w'hat  he  said.  If  I had 
told  them  that  Jesus  did  not  mean  what  He  said  they  w'ould  have 
called  me  a fool.  I told  them  that  God  had  set  before  us  a very 
high  standard  but  it  would  probably  take  me  a life-time  to  live  up  / 
to  it,  but  I meant  to  live  what  I preached  to  them.  The  natives 
there  have  common  sense,  and  they  would  easily  see  any  discrep- 
ancy between  a man’s  life  and  preaching.  After  the  address  was 
over  the  natives  began  to  ask  me  for  things  ; one  asked  me  for 
this  and  another  for  that,  and  I gave  to  them.  I began  to  think] 


18 


whereunto  this  would  grow,  but  I told  the  Lord  that  I could  not  see 
that  he  meant  anything  different  from  what  he  said.  I would  test 
this  text,  and  though  I could  not  understand  all,  I would  wait  un- 
til I could.  This  went  on  for  a day  or  two,  and  there  was  one  con- 
solation about  it  that  at  this  time  we  had  very  few  goods,  as  the 
Livingston  Inland  mission  was  being  transferred  to  the  American 
Baptist  Missionary  Union,  and  our  things  were  somewhat  delayed. 
We  attach  no  blame  to  any  one,  but  when  you  have  only  a few 
things  those  things  become  all  the  more  precious.  This  created 
quite  a stir  among  the  people.  They  had  never  heard  such  preach- 
ing, nor  seen  such  living,  and  they  would  now  listen  eagerly  to 
the  word  of  God.  One  day  a group  of  people  was  waiting  outside 
after  the  service,  and  from  the  window  in  my  house  I could  see 
them,  but  they  could  not  see  me,  and  one  said,  “ I got  this  from 
the  white  man  yesterday,”  and  another  said,  “ I am  going  to  ask 
the  white  man  for  things  like  that,”  but  another  said  “ no,  if  you 
want  it,  buy  it,”  another  ‘‘yes,  buy  it  if  you  want  it.”  After 
that  I lived  there  three  years  amongst  these  people  and  they  rarely 
asked  me  for  a thing.  A missionary  came  up  during  the  revival, 
and  said  that  he  was  delighted  to  see  the  people  turning  from 
dumb  idols  to  God,  and  he  asked  how  it  began.  I told  him  my 
experience,  and  about  my  difficulty  with  that  text,  and  he  asked 
if  I supposed  that  it  really  meant  what  it  said.  Then  he  said, 
“ But  these  people  know  you  ; yon  have  lived  here  for  seven  years, 
but  if  you  were  to  go  to  Palabala  they  would  ask  for  your  house 
and  turn  you  out.”  I had  been  to  Palabala  and  they  always  did 
beg,  but  my  wife  and  I went  there  afterwards  and  remained  a week 
and  no  one  asked  me  for  a single  thing. 

We  were  asked  how  we  would  live  up  to  this  when  we  got 
back  to  England,  as  there  was  so  much  distress  there.  We  lived 
there  for  more  than  a year  but  found  no  difficulty  in  carrying  out 
that  text.  My  wife  could  not  at  first  see  with  me  in  regard  to  this 
text.  One  day  as  we  were  coming  home  from  a chapel  in  Bridge- 
water  we  met  a man  when  we  were  about  half  a mile  from  our 
house,  who  asked  for  some  help,  but  I had  nothing  with  me,  but 
told  him  that  if  he  would  come  back  to  the  house  I would  give  him 
something.  I gave  him  some  money,  and  my  wife  asked  him  in 
and  gave  him  a good  meal.  About  three  months  after  this  we 
were  going  into  the  same  chapel  when  we  met  a respectably 
dressed  man  and  he  came  over  and  said,  “ I want  to  thank  you,” 
I said,  “ Thank  me  for  what  ?”  and  he  said,  ‘‘ Do  you  not  remem- 
ber that  I met  you  here  when  I was  in  great  distress  and  despair 


19 


and  yon  helped  me  just  in  the  nick  of  time.  I have  got  work  and 
am  very  well  ofT,  and  have  just  been  married  and  I am  very  happy, 
and  want  to  thank  you.”  My  wife  knew  of  this  case  and  some 
others,  and  she  has  come  to  the  conclusion  with  me  that  the  Lord 
Jesus  means  what  he  says.  We  have  found  it  not  only  possible 
but  profitable  to  take  the  word  literally.  Before  this  I had  given 
money  and  seen  people  walk  straight  into  the  Public  House,  but 
since",  I have  never  seen  such  a thing,  and  I do  not  believe  that  the 
Lord  lets  the  ordinary  beggar  ask  me,  but  that  those  who  do  ask 
are  really  in  need.  We  have  had  proofs  of  this.  Seeing  how  this 
text  turned  out  has  greatly  increased  my  faith.  We  have  no  right 
to  put  in  our  “ ifs”  and  “ buts,”  but  simply  to  obey,  and  dismiss  all 
anxiety  as  to  the  results. 

I went  on  translating  and  expounding  Luke’s  Gospel,  and  the 
interest  increased  continually.  I began  to  speak  to  the  people  of 
the  Holy  Spirit.  I was  afraid  to  do  this  at  first,  as  I had  to  use 
their  words  to  explain  to  them  what  they  meant.  I cried  out  that 
God  would  clothe  me  with  power  and  let  the  spirit  fall  upon  the 
people.  The  climax  was  reached  when  I got  to  the  account  of  the 
Crucifixion  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  I remember  reading  this  ac- 
count. There  was  quite  a large  congregation,  and  I said,  ‘‘Now 
I have  read  to  you  all  about  Jesus,  how  kind  and  how  good  he  was  ; 
how  he  gave  sight  to  the  blind,  and  hearing  to  the  deaf,  raised  the 
dead,  and  did  nothing  but  good.  Now  here  is  this  loving  one  on 
the  cross,  nailed  there  between  the  thieves.  You  think  those 
Jews  were  cruel  because  they  nailed  such  a loving  one  as  Jesus  to 
the  cross,  but  we  are  just  as  bad  as  they ; your  sins  and  mine 
nailed  Jesus  there.  Jesus  never  would  have  died  if  we  had  not 
been  sinners,  but  it  is  because  of  your  sins  and  of  my  sins  that  Jesus 
died  ; and  remember  that  he  is  the  Son  of  God  and  he  could  blow 
them  all  away  into  eternity  by  the  breath  of  his  mouth,  but  while 
the  priests  are  scoffing,  the  soldiers  mocking,  and  the  thief  railing, 
just  listen  to  what  Jesus  says  : “ Father,  forgive  them  for  they 

know  not  what  they  do.”  Did  you  ever  hear  anything  like  that  ? 
Jesus  suffered  all  this  for  your  sins  and  mine.  It  seemed  as  if  the 
Holy  Ghost  had  fallen  upon  the  people.  They  began  to  look  at 
each  other,  but  they  were  afraid  to  confess.  I saw  the  power  and 
continued  preaching,  and  one  day  when  I had  finished  preaching 
in  a town,  Lutate,  who  had  helped  me  with  the  language,  said  to 
the  people  : “ This  white  man  has  been  here  all  this  time.  I be- 

lieve those  words  are  true  words,  and  yet  you  do  not  believe.”  I 
thought  this  was  a strange  thing,  because  you  do  not  believe 


20 


» yourself.  He  often  told  me  that  he  did  believe  but  I saw  no  change 

I in  his  life.  As  we  came  back  through  the  wood  he  began  to  'Sing 
one  of  our  Congo  hymns.  I saw  his  face  shining  with  joy,  and  he 
said,  “Ido  believe  those  words.  I do  believe  Jesus  has  taken 
away  my  sins.  I do  believe  he  has  saved  me,  and  I do  feel  so  hap- 
py.” I had  never  seen  him  look  or  speak  like  that  before ; and  I 
took  him  by  the  hand  and  gave  him  the  name  Barnaba  (as  they 
cannot  conclude  a word  with  a consonant),  son  of  consolation,  and 
he  was  a real  son  to  me.  He  was  the  first  convert  at  Banza  Man- 
teke,  after  seven  years  weary  waiting  and  hard  work  and  suffering. 
Lutate  showed  his  reality  by  testifying  at  once  to  the  people  what 
the  Lord  had  done  for  him,  and  at  once  they  became  his  enemies. 
The  people  banded  themselves  together  to  poison  him.  It  was  all 
very  well,  they  said,  to  listen  to  what  the  white  man  said,  but 
when  he  told  them  their  charms  were  nothing  they  were  very  an- 
gry, and  looked  upon  him  as  a traitor.  The  witch  doctors  had 
told  them  that  I had  got  the  souls  of  the  people  up  over  the  mats 
that  I used  for  a ceiling,  and  when  I had  a sufficient  number  of 
them  I sent  them  by  some  mysterious  way  to  my  country  to  be- 
come the  slaves  of  the  white  people.  They  believed  that  Lutate 
had  gone  over  to  my  side  to  help  bewitch  those  souls  and  was  to 
share  in  the  profits.  So  he  had  to  leave  his  town  at  once  and  came 
down  to  the  station  to  live  with  me,  and,  of  course,  had  to  leave 
his  wife  and  children  and  all  his  relations.  This  went  on  for 
some  time  before  there  were  any  more  conversions,  but  the  peo- 
ple were  greatly  stirred.  The  king’s  sou  had  been  suffering  a 
great  while  from  his  teeth.  He  had  done  all  he  could  wfith  the 
charms,  and  then  he  came  to  ask  me  to  help  him.  I extracted 
three  teeth  for  him  and  he  got  better  at  once.  He  went  back  to 
his  town  and  put  his  idols  in  the  grass,  and  he  thought  he  might 
die  before  morning,  as  he  was  told  he  would  if  he  insulted  his 
idols.  The  next  day  he  went  still  further  and  put  them  further 
away  in  the  long  grass.  He  found  that  nothing  particular  hap- 
pened, and  he  came  down  to  hear  the  word  of  God  daily.  One 
day  I saw  that  he  was  greatly  impressed  and  I spoke  to  him  pri- 
vately about  spiritual  things.  He  said  that  he  did  believe,  but  I 
was  not  satisfied,  and  I said  he  must  give  his  heart  to  Jesus.  He 
went  back  saying  to  himself,  “ How  can  I take  out  this  heart  and 
give  it  to  Jesus  ?”  We  afterward  explained  this  difficulty  and 
he  became  an  earnest  Christian  and  is  still  one  of  our  best  Chris- 
tian workers. 

Shortly  after  this  another  man  came  down  with  all  his  idols 


21 


and  placed  them  on  the  table  and  said  in  a very  savage  manner  t 
that  he  did  not  want  them  any  more,  that  he  wanted  to  become  a 
Christian  like  those  other  two  men.  We  explained  to  him  that 
this  was  not  exactly  the  right  spirit  to  come  in,  but  must  come 
like  a child.  We  found  that  he  was  really  in  earnest,  and  he  too 
became  a Christian  and  began  to  preach.  Because  he  so  liked 
preaching  we  called  him  Paul,  and  a short  time  ago  he  was  called 
up  higher. 

One  day  a man  came  in  looking  the  picture  of  wretchedness. 
He  told  us  afterwards  that  he  had  not  been  able  to  sleep.  All  the 
bad  things  he  had  ever  done  kept  coming  up  before  his  mind  as  he 
lay  on  his  bed,  and  he  wanted  to  know  if  Jesus  could  not  take 
away  his  sins.  We  told  him  that  was  what  Jesus  wanted  to  do.  So 
the  work  went  on  until  ten  were  converted,  but  they  all  had  to 
leave  their  towns  as  they  were  threatened  with  death. 

I then  locked  up  my  house  and  took  those  men  with  me,  and 
we  went  from  town  to  town,  and  village  to  village,  preaching  the 
word  of  God,  and  all  the  hillside  was  in  a stir,  and  soon  the  peo- 
ple began  to  come  to  the  station  to  know  what  this  new  thing  was. 

I was  not  able  to  go  away  ; they  came  early  in  the  day.  One  old 
man  treated  us  with  the  greatest  contempt  possible,  but  came  up 
two  days  afterwards  just  like  a child  and  went  down  on  his  knees 
before  me  and  said  that  he  was  greatly  troubled  about  his  sins. 
He  became  a Christian  and  was  faithful  until  he  was  called  home. 
The  king’s  nephew,  the  heir  apparent,  became  greatly  enraged 
because  the  king’s  son  had  become  a Christian,  and  had  left  his 
town,  and  would  no  doubt  have  killed  him  if  he  dared,  and  said 
truly,  “you  have  another  life.’’  He  meant  to  say  that  I had  by 
some  means  overpowered  him  to  come  over  to  my  side,  and  that 
he  had  become  a traitor.  He  did  not  know  how  truly  he  was 
speaking  when  he  said  this  man  had  another  life.  But  this  man 
came  down  in  a few  days  after  this  just  like  a child,  and  he  became 
a faithful  follower  of  the  Lord  Jesus,  until  he  too  received  his  re- 
ward. 

Quite  a Christian  village  was  now  springing  up  near  the  sta- 
tion and  the  people  were  about  us  all  day  long,  so  that  we  organ- 
ized two  regular  services  each  day  ; one  in  the  morning  and  one  in 
the  evening,  and  we  had  inquiry  meetings  all  day  long.  The 
house  became  too  small,  so  that  we  had  to  have  our  meeting  in  the 
open  yard,  and  you  would  have  seen  a group  here  and  a group 
there,  and  one  of  the  first  converts  in  the  centre  teaching.  So  the 
work  continued  and  was  blessed.  This  continued  for  mouths  un- 


22 


til  all  the  people  immediately  around  Banza  Manteke  were  no 
longer  heathen.  I kept  a book  and  put  down  only  the  names  of 
those  who  I thought  were  really  converted,  until  I had  reached 
over  one  thousand  names.  The  influence  was  felt  for  a distance 
of  six  to  eight  miles.  The  population  is  comparatively  sparse 
compared  to  the  population  in  the  interior. 

What  has  been  the  result  of  all  this  ? One  thing  is  that  the  re- 
vival occurred  about  four  years  ago  and  a great  many  have  gone 
home  to  heaven,  and  for  the  most  part  the  others  are  holding  on. 
Of  course  many  are  not  as  earnest  and  as  devoted  as  we  would 
like  to  have  them  and  they  are  by  no  means  perfect.  We  have 
baptized  about  three  hundred.  I believe  our  church  is  as  spiritual 
a church  as  I know  of  anywhere.  Let  me  mention  some  facts. 
The  church  chose  three  evangelists  to  spend  their  time  in  preach- 
ing the  Gospel.  All  the  members  are  preachers  and  teachers,  but 
these  three  were  to  give  their  whole  time.  One  man,  David,  was 
chosen  and  agreed  to  take  four  pieces  of  cloth  a month,  costing  about 
two  dollars  and  when  the  time  came  for  him  to  receive  his  pay, 
I remember  that  he  said  to  the  church  that  as  he  went  about  he  saw 
so  many  poor  people  that  he  could  not  take  his  pay  from  the 
church.  Of  course,  many  of  them  were  at  once  persecuted.  For 
instance,  there  were  three  who  came  and  heard  the  word  of  God 
and  became  Christians,  and  went  to  their  town  Ntombu  Lukuti,  and 
told  the  people  that  they  were  no  longer  heathen,  and  that  they 
loved  Jesus  and  no  longer  trusted  in  their  idols.  The  chief  became 
very  angry  and  said  he  would  see  about  that,  and  went  and  fetched 
his  gun  and  came  out  and  shot  all  three  of  them.  I may  say  just 
here  that  our  people  became  greatly  stirred  over  this  and  wanted  to 
know  if  they  should  do  nothing  about  this,  as  the  people  over 
there  had  called  them  cowards  (women).  I called  them  to- 
gether and  read  and  expounded  the  sixth  chapter  of  Luke,  and 
asked  them  if  they  were  willing  to  submit  to  the  Word  of  God, 
and  they  said  that  they  were.  Jesus  said  we  ought  to  love  our 
enemies  and  do  good  to  those  who  hate  us.  Would  it  be  good  to 
shoot  them  ? God  says,  “Vengeance  is  mine,  I will  repay.”  In 
this  life  you  will  see  that  God  will  punish  that  man.  He  takes  ven- 
geance. It  is  far  better  for  one  to  be  killed  than  to  kill  another. 
In  this  way  the  people  were  pacified.  Sometime  after  this  this 
same  chief  went  to  another  town  and  insulted  a slave  and  was 
shot  himself.  The  people  knew  all  this  and  willingly  admitted 
that  it  was  best  to  leave  vengeance  with  God. 

Another  one  of  the  witch  doctors  became  very  angry  because 


23 


his  hope  of  gain  was  gone.  The  people  had  no  further  need  of 
him  and  he  became  very  angry  and  placed  his  house  in  another 
part  of  the  town.  He  declared  that  the  first  Christian  who  passed 
him  he  would  shoot.  He  put  a mat  outside  his  house  and  latf 
down,  as  the  natives  do  in  the  middle  of  the  day,  and  a snake  un- . 
der  the  mat  bit  him  and  in  a very  short  time  he  was  dead.  The 
people  noticed  this  case,  and  they  said  it  was  wonderful  how  God  | 
protected  his  own  people. 

The  name  of  one  of  the  evangelists  was  Thomas.  Mr.  Ingham, 
who  is  in  charge  at  Banza  Manteke  in  my  absence,  writes 
that  this  man  agreed  to  take  four  pieces  of  cloth  a month. 
He  is  a very  bright  man,  and  could  get  much  more  if  he  should 
choose  to  do  anything  else,  and  when  the  month  is  up  Mr.  Ingham 
writes  that  he  returned  his  four  pieces  of  cloth  into  the  church  box 
and  gave  as  his  contribution  two  pieces  more.  He  buys  books  and 
teaches  a school  in  his  town,  and  buys  books  and  pays  another 
teacher  for  a school  in  another  town.  This  man  led  his  grand- 
mother, who  had  grown  grey  in  heathenism,  to  the  Cord  Jesus,  and 
afterwards  taught  her  to  read  the  Word  of  God.  And  this  poor  old 
lady,  when  she  wants  to  come  to  the  services  it  takes  her  two  days 
to  come.  She  takes  her  little  basket  of  provisions,  such  as  pota- 
toes, bananas,  plantains,  etc.,  and  she  sleeps  on  the  way  and  goes 
on  until  she  gets  to  Banza  Manteke,  so  that  she  can  hear  the  Word 
of  God.  After  spending  some  days  there  and  getting  food,  she  goes 
back  to  her  own  town. 

I may  mention  as  another  case  of  devotion  a man  called  Man- 
dombi.  We  have  a very  terrible  disease  in  the  Congo  called  the 
sleeping  sickness.  It  has  already  carried  off  fifty  of  our  members 
and  probably  more  than  one  hundred  of  our  converts.  No  one 
seems  to  understand  the  disease  and  no  remedy  has  been  found  for  it. 
This  man,  knowing  that  he  had  this  disease,  had  worked  and  saved 
five  pounds'  worth  of  cloth,  which  would  probably  take  him  a year, 
to  help  pay  his  fare  to  England,  so  that  the  doctors  there  might 
study  his  case  and  make  a post  mortem  when  he  was  dead  and  find 
remedy,  if  possible,  so  that  his  people  might  not  die  off  of  such 
dreaded  complaints.  He  not  only  left  his  wife,  but  two  little 
children,  and  gave  himself  up  as  a sacrifice  for  his  people. 

We  had  to  hold  our  services  in  the  open  air,  in  the  hot  sun. 
This  was  very  trying  to  the  preacher  and  to  his  congregation.  Dr. 
Gordon’s  church  in  Boston  heard  of  this  and  collected  a sufficient 
fund  to  build  a chapel.  I said  to  the  people  : “ Now  those  kind 

people  in  America  have  beard  that  you  have  turned  to  the  Lord 


24 


i 


i 

\ 


Jesus  and  they  want  you  to  have  a place  to  worship  in.  You  see 
how  very  busy  I am  (I  had  to  be  their  doctor,  as  they  had  given  up 
their  charms).  I have  no  time  to  superintend  the  new  building. 
I will  get  the  chapel  built  in  England  and  have  it  brought  to 
Tondua.  Will  you  bring  it  up  from  there  to  Banza  Manteke  ? ” 
This  is  a distance  of  between  fifty  and  sixty  miles,  over  a road  very 
difficult  to  travel,  as  we  have  already  described.  Those  Chris- 
tians who  were  able  went  and  brought  up  these  loads  until  they 
had  brought  up  all  the  chapel,  about  seven  hundred  loads.  Some 
of  them  went  from  three  to  five  times,  and  Mandombi,  who  has 
already  been  mentioned,  brought  up  the  first  load,  and  I was  told 
that  he  went  five  times,  and  they  did  this  free  of  charge.  How 
many  hypocrites  would  you  get  to  do  that  here  ? To  go  more  than 
fifty  miles  down  and  fifty  miles  back,  three  or  four  times,  and 
carry  a load  of  sixty  pounds  and  not  charge  anything  for  it ! It 
took  them  a week  to  make  each  journey.  These  people  who  were 
thieves  became  honest.  My  wife  and  1 lived  in  a grass  house 
without  any  lock  on  the  door  for  a whole  year,  and  when  we  first 
went  into  that  house  our  boxes  were  outside  with  the  things 
unlocked,  and  nobody  took  anything.  We  left  that  house  and 
went  to  live  in  another,  ioo  yards  off.  Under  the  veranda^  of 
this  deserted  house  was  a box  without  a cover  and  a black  coat 
lying  in  the  bottom.  We  got  out  these  second-hand  coats  from 
England  at  a very  cheap  rate,  and  the  men  like  them  very  much 
in  the  cold  season.  Although  the  thermometer  is  never  below 
seventy,  I have  seen  them  shaking  with  the  cold.  I went  over  to 
this  house  after  two  months  and  found  the  coat  still  untouched.  I 
wonder  if  you  could  do  that  in  this  country.  The  people  who  were 
such  liars  became  truthful. 

The  people  also  became  more  industrious  and  more  cleanly, 
and  the  women  wanted  to  dress  themselves  better,  and  the  hus- 
bands made  suitable  dresses  for  their  wives.  These  dresses  are 
long  flowing  robes  made  close  around  the  neck,  with  long  sleeves, 
and  come  down  just  to  the  ankles  with  a band  aroundithe  waist. 
Many  of  the  women  are  too  poor  to  get  these  dresses,  and  it  would 
be  a real  charity  to  give  them  some.  The  men,  too,  became  more 
energetic,  and  now  they  act  as  carriers  ; in  fact,  carrying  has  be- 
come quite  a trade.  The  people  would  not  carry  at  all  when  I first 
went  there,  but  now  many  of  them  act  as  porters  and  some  of 
them  are  learning  to  become  carpenters.  When  we  were  erecting 
our  chapel  we  engaged  some  Accra  carpenters  from  the  west  coast 
of  Africa,  and  we  told  our  men  that  if  they  wauted  to  learn  they 


25 


must  watch  these  carpenters.  Now  Mr.  Ingham  writes  that  we  \ 
have  good  carpenters  at  Banza  Manteke,  even  better  than  the 
Accra,  and  they  are  building  themselves  houses,  bedsteads  and 
tables,  and  they  always  bury  their  dead  in  coffins,  and  carpentering 
has  become  quite  a trade.  Many  of  the  people  at  once  began  to 
build  themselves  better  houses. 

As  soon  as  they  became  Christians,  poison-giving,  throat-cut- 
ting and  witchcraft  and  everything  that  was  contrary  to  Chris- 
tianity ceased.  I never  told  them  to  bring  their  idols,  but  they 
brought  them,  and  at  the  first  baptism  we  had  a bon-fire  of  idols 
on  the  trade  path,  so  that  the  people  passing  could  see  thaCour 
people  were  no  longer  idolaters,  and  surely  “old  things  had  pass- 
ed away  and  all  things  had  become  new.” 

The  people  are  still  Africans,  and  I wish  them  remain  so.  I 
should  feel  very  sorry  to  see  them  Americanized  or  Europeanized. 
They  are  Africans,  and  let  them  remain  so.  I protest  against  their 
coming  to  England  or  America,  as  they  would  see  a corrupt  form 
of  Christianity,  and  they  become  proud  and  ambitious  and  give  us 
no  end  of  trouble  when  they  return.  We  have  a very  primitive 
church,  such  as  we  read  of  in  the  time  of  the  Apostles,  just  accord- 
ing to  the  New  Testament.  Their  mode  of  living  and  their  mode 
of  dressing  is  far  more  suitable  than  our  European  way.  The 
women,  for  instance,  still  go  in  the  fields  and  do  the  cultivating, 
while  the  men  stay  at  home  and  do  the  sewing.  Some  think 
this  very  strange,  but  we  have  no  authority  for  interfering  with 
the  customs  that  are  not  wrong.  Sometimes  you  will  see  a man 
trying  to  imitate  a white  man  by  wearing  white  men’s  clothing. 
He  will  get  an  old  pair  of  trousers  and  an  old  coat  with  the  sleeves 
broken  and  an  old  hat  with  a hole  through  it,  and  as  he  does  not 
know  how  to  put  these  things  on,  he  looks  like  a tramp  ; while 
another  man  with  a long  cloth  around  his  waist,  and  another  long 
cloth  over  his  shoulder,  and  one  arm  bare,  looks  a perfect  gentle- 
man, and  very  much  more  graceful  than  the  white  man’s  dress, 
which  is  very  ugly.  I think  the  dresses  women  wear  there  very 
much  more  suitable  than  the  dresses  women  wear  in  civilized 
countries. 

There  was  one  difficulty  we  had  to  meet  at  once.  The  people 
are  polygamists.  The  men  have  from  two  to  five  wives,  as  a rule. 
They  are  all  married  according  to  the  customs  of  their  country, 
and  are  considered  by  all  as  his  wives.  When  they  became  Chris- 
tians the  question  arose,  what  we  should  do  ; but  as  there  was  no 
one  there  whom  I could  go  to  for  advice  I had  to  consult  the  New 


26 


Testament,  and  I found  no  authority  for  commanding  a man  to  put 
away  all  his  wives  but  one  and  so  allowed  them  to  keep  them.  We 
told  them  that,  of  course,  this  was  contrary  to  the  original  intention, 
for  God  only  made  one  woman  for  one  man,  and  Christ  spoke  spe- 
cially of  only  wife,  not  wives,  and  in  the  future  they  must  marry 
but  one  or  they  would  be  excluded.  Those  who  had  more  than  one 
were  not  to  marry  more.  In  this  way  polygamy  will  soon  die  out 
and  the  people  are  beginning  to  feel  that  it  is  a great  deal  better 
for  a man  to  have  only  one  wife,  especially  as  they  see  the  home 
life  of  the  missionary,  which  makes  a great  impression  upon  them. 
This  is  an  argument  in  favor  of  the  married  missionaries.  I think 
it  especially  desirable  that  African  missionaries  should  be  married. 
Only  women  can  deal  with  the  native  women  privately.  Woman’s 
work  is  as  important  as  a man’s  in  that  country.  When  my  wife 
returned  she  had  a glorious  reception.  I question  if  a queen  ever 
had  a more  hearty  reception  than  she  had,  and  as  she  saw  the 
change,  she  had  some  difficulty  in  keeping  her  eyes  dry.  At  once 
her  hands  were  full  of  work  among  the  women  and  children.  She 
had  not  only  to  be  their  teacher,  but  also  their  doctor,  and  she 
soon  became  a specialist  as  a baby  doctor,  as  the  women  have  no 
idea  what  to  do  when  their  babies  are  sick,  and  so  they  would 
apply  to  my  wife. 

They  have  a secret  society  called  the  Nkiinbi,  into  which  all 
men  have  to  enter.  All  males  enter  this  society  from  the  age  of 
twelve  to  sixteen.  In  this  society  they  are  initiated  into  all  the 
superstitious  rites.  There  they  are  supposed  to  die  and  rise  again. 
There  they  get  a new  name,  and  are  never  called  by  the  old  name 
again.  They  have  to  learn  a new  language  called  the  Nkimba 
language.  When  they  enter  they  have  to  eat  a piece  of  chalk, 
which  they  call  a pig.  Those  who  are  initiated  often  say  that  this 
is  not  a pig  but  the  Mbaku.  The  head  of  Nkimbi  will  tell  them 
that  it  is  a pig,  and  if  they  say  it  is  not  they  will  kill  them,  and  if 
they  ever  confess  that  it  is  not  a pig  they  will  die,  and  if  they  ever 
confess  that  they  did  not  die  and  rise  again,  they  will  die  suddenly. 
They  remain  in  this  society  from  two  to  three  years,  then  Mbaku 
takes  them  back  to  the  town  and  show's  them  the  way,  and  intro- 
duces them  to  their  friends,  as  they  do  not  any  more  know  them, 
and  as  they  are  unable  to  speak  their  language,  he  inter]) rets  for 
some  time,  until  they  acquire  their  original  language.  They  are 
never  known  to  confess  that  they  did  not  rise  and  that  they  did 
understand  the  language  when  they  returned.  When  people 
declared  that  they  wranted  to  become  Christians,  we  had  some 


27 


test  questions,  which  were  suggested  by  our  first  convert,  Lutate  , 
by  which  we  could,  at  least,  tell  whether  they  had  given  up  their 
faith  in  their  idolatry.  The  first  question  was  this,  Did  you  die 
and  rise  again  in  the  Nkimbi?  They  are  told  that  if  they  confess 
that  they  did  not,  they  would  suddenly  die,  and  often,  trembling, 
they  would  answer,  “ No.”  They  were  asked  if  it  was  real  pig  or 
chalk  they  eat,  and  if  they  said  chalk,  they  have  confessed  the 
secret,  which  they  are  told  means  sudden  death  to  them.  To  de- 
nounce the  Nkimbi  is  to  give  up  idolatry.  The  women  when  they 
heard  these  men  confess  that  it  was  all  untrue  that  they  had  been 
led  to  believe  in  regard  to  the  Nkimbi  were  astonished  to  think 
that  their  husbands  and  brothers  should  have  always  deceived 
them  and  never  confessed  the  secret. 

Just  before  and  during  the  revival  we  had  some  very  remark- 
able answers  to  prayers.  The  head  of  the  Nkimbi  was  about  the 
greatest  enemy  to  the  Gospel.  He  had  almost  absolute  control  over 
the  men,  and  told  them  if  they  listened  to  me  they  would  be  be- 
witched, and  I told  him  before  his  face  and  before  these  men,  that 
he  was  deceiving  them  ; that  he  knew  that  it  was  all  untrue.  He 
said,  “ Is  it  not  true?  You  come,  and  you  will  see  if  you  do  not 
die  and  rise  again.”  He  was  trying  to  be  bold  and  convert  me  to 
heathenism,  but  I objected,  because  I thought  I might  perhaps  fall 
into  their  hands  and  die,  but  was  not  so  sure  as  to  the  way  I should 
rise  again.  His  influence  over  these  men  was  so  great  that  I had 
difficulty  in  getting  them  to  listen  to  the  Gospel.  There  was  also 
another  -witch  doctor,  a female,  who  had  about  the  same  control 
over  the  women,  and  when  I was  preaching  to  the  women  she 
would  say  that,  if  they  listened  to  me  they  would  die,  and  they 
would  run  away.  There  was  one  chief,  who  when  I preached 
would  take  his  gun  and  his  people  would  follow  him.  I felt  that 
those  three  were  great  hinderances  to  the  Gospel.  While  I was 
down  the  country  with  my  wife  I asked  God,  earnestly,  to  remove 
all  hindrances  out  of  the  way.  When  I got  back  to  Banza  Manteke 
I found  the  head  of  the  Nkimbi  had  gone  to  a palm  tree  to  get 
palm  wine  and  had  fallen  down  and  injured  his  back  and  died. 
The  witch  female  doctor’s  house  had  been  removed  and  she  was 
dead  and  buried,  and  when  I got  to  the  town  of  this  chief  I found 
that  he  had  the  fever  and  died,  and  so  my  three  enemies  were  re- 
moved. During  this  time  we  were  in  great  distress,  our  goods 
being  delayed  through  some  misunderstanding  at  the  time  the 
mission  was  transferred  to  the  American  Baptist  Missionary  Union. 
We  attach  no  blame  to  anyone,  but  we  were  almost  entirely  with- 


28 


out  provisions  and  barter  goods.  We  had  children  at  the  Station 
whom  we  had  ransomed  and  had  to  be  provided  for.  We  had 
come  to  the  very  last.  We  had  no  more  food,  no  more  cloth,  and  I 
called  the  children  together  and  told  them  God  would  answer 
prayer,  and  we  must  ask  Him  to  send  us  food,  and  cloth  to  buy  it 
with.  Mr.  Clarke  had  gone  to  Lukunga  to  see  how  things  were 
and  he  found  some  cloth  hidden  away  in  a box  underneath  some 
other  boxes.  The  day  after  we  prayed  Mr.  Clarke  came  in  and  put 
twelve  pieces  of  cloth  on  the  table  and  said,  “ If  you  want  that 
you  can  have  it.”  So  our  prayer  was  answered  and  the  people  were 
greatly  surprised.  I was  also  a very  long  time  without  soap.  A 
rather  common  article  to  talk  about,  but  if  you  are  without  soap 
for  three  months  you  will  value  soap  as  you  have  never  done 
before.  One  has  to  be  far  more  particular  in  that  climate  in  regard 
to  cleanliness.  One  must  frequently  change  his  linen.  It  does 
not  matter  so  much  in  a clean  climate  like  this,  but  it  is  of  great 
importance  in  the  Congo.  We  had  been  without  soap  for  nearly 
three  months  and  felt  that  I could  not  go  without  it  any  longer.  I 
knew  that  they  had  no  soap  at  Palabala  or  Lukunga,  but  I 
went  to  God  and  asked  Him  for  it.  I said  I did  not  know  where 

I it  was  to  come  from,  but  I will  just  wait.  Two  days  after  this  Mr. 
Iugham,  who  was  then  an  official  in  the  State,  but  who  is  now  a 
good  missionary,  came  in  and  said  he  wanted  to  get  some  things 
washed  and  would  I let  my  Jack-wash  wash  them,  as  he  was  going 
down  the  the  country,  and  he  would  get  them  when  he  returned. 
He  put  two  bars  of  soap  on  the  table  and  said  I could  have  what 
was  left,  after  he  had  cut  off  a piece  for  my  Jack-wash  to  use,  as 
he  did  not  wish  to  be  bothered  with  it.  I told  him  how  I had 
prayed  for  it  and  felt  that  God  would  give  it  to  us. 

During  the  time  of  the  revival  we  had  two  services  a day  and 
an  evening  service,  and  we  had  glorious  meetings.  The  testimonies 
of  the  converts  were  given  with  great  power.  One  day  the  boy  who 
had  charge  of  the  lamps  came  in  and  said  that  the  oil  was 
finished.  I just  lifted  up  my  heart  to  God  in  prayer  and 
said,  ‘‘You  cannot  mean  that  these  services  are  to  be  stop- 
ped; we  cannot  conduct  them  in  the  dark.”  An  hour  had  not 
passed  when  the  same  boy  came  in  and  said  that  a carrier  had 
come  from  Palabala.  I went  outside  and  the  first  thing  I saw 

I a large  tin  drum.  I went  and  looked  at  it  and  the  first  thing  I 
read  was,  “ Kol  zu  oil,”  just  the  oil  we  needed.  If  it  had  been 
kerosene,  or  paraffine,  or  any  other  kind  we  could  not  have  used 
it.  I said  to  l’eter,  ‘‘Fill  up  the  lamps;  God  has  sent  the  oil,” 


29 


and  God  continued  to  bless  us  in  these  meetings.  I do  believe 
that  if  we  “ seek  the  Kingdom  of  God  and  His  Righteousness,” 
all  the  necessary  things  will  be  supplied,  because  it  is  His  promise. 
We  can  see  that  God  has  never  failed  us. 

It  is  not  only  at  Banza  Manteke,  but  at  our  Station,  Lukunga, 
where  the  Gospel  has  only  been  preached  four  or  five  years  and 
within  the  last  two  years  our  missionary  has  baptized  more  than 
two  hundred.  Almost  every  place  where  the  Gospel  has  been 
faithfully  preached  for  any  length  of  time  there  have  conversions. 

I do  not  know  of  such  a hopeful  field  in  the  world  as  in  the  great 
Congo  valley.  There  are  no  such  great  systems  of  religion  as  in 
China  and  India,  such  as  Buddhism,  Brahmanism,  but  simply 
fetichisxn,  and  the  people  are  naturally  intelligent,  and  when  they 
get  to  understand  that  there  is  something  better  for  them  they  give 
up  their  idolatry  and  accept  Christianity.  The  people  are  naurally 
very  plastic,  and  the  people  in  Africa  will  be  just  what  we  make 
them.  If  we  do  not  take  the  Gospel  to  them,  the  traders  and 
others  will  introduce  sin  and  rum,  powder  and  guns,  which  utterly 
corrupt  and  brutalize  the  people.  Now  is  our  opportunity.  God 
has  opened  the  door  for  the  Church  to  go  in  and  take  possession. 
All  we  want  to  do  is  to  send  faithful  missionaries  by  hundreds  and 
thousands  to  go  and  win  these  people  for  Christ. 

The  plan  of  which  I have  thought  for  the  Evanglizatiorf  of 
Africa,  is  to  divide  up  Africa  into  sections  of  ioo  miles  square. 
There  would  be  1,150  such  squares. 

Supposing  you  put  four  missionaries  in  each  of  these  squares, 
you  would  have  about  4,600  missionaries,  and  all  Africa  would  be 
pretty  wTell  occupied,  with  no  Mission  established  100  miles  from 
another,  and  in  about  twenty  years  at  least  all  Africa  would  be 
brought  to  the  light. 

What  Africa  wants  is  a magnificent  Missionary  Company, 
something  like  a railway  company  or  a tunnel  company,  and  I 
have  thought  a Society  could  be  established  which  would  evan- 
gelize Africa.  I do  not  think  it  would  cost  more  than  ^500, 
000  sterling,  and  I think  that  with  about  ^6,000,000  or  ^7,000,- 
000  they  could  have  their  own  ships  to  go  out  and  take  out  pro-- 
visious  and  cloth  and  such  things.  Why  could  not  different  Evan- 
gelical Associations  do  this?  You  Presbyterians,  Baptists,  Congre- 
gationalists  and  Methodists,  all  work  in  harmony  for  the  Evangali- 
zation  of  Africa. 


